NEW YORK—Quarterback John Lovett piled up 309 total yards of offense as No. 25 ranked Princeton scored on eight of its first nine offensive drives in claiming a 45-10 decision against Columbia Friday evening at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. The loss ends Columbia's four-game win streak and drops the Lions to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in Ivy League play. It was Columbia's home opener and Ivy League opener. Princeton improves to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Ivy League.
 
The game was nationally televised on ESPNU and also marked Columbia's first home game.
 
For Princeton, Lovett rushed for a game-high 174 yards on 17 carries, completed 12 of 22 passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns, Collin Eaddy rushed for 102 yards on six carries and a touchdown and TJ Floyd intercepted two passes. Wide receiver Steve Carlson caught two touchdown passes and made five receptions for 86 yards. Princeton finished with 540 total yards and 24 first downs, averaged 7.9 yards per play, rushed for 360 yards on 41 attempts and converted six of 11 third downs and limited the Lions to 213 total yards of offense.
 
"We just really struggled with stopping the quarterback run game," Columbia Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football Al Bagnoli said. "We just really struggled in trying to contain their offense. If you can't stop the run it obviously opens up a lot of other things. Kudos to Princeton. It was very impressive. Lovett is a big, strong, fast and athletic kid. To his credit he can actually throw the ball better than the last time we saw him play."
 
"It was certainly not the type of game we were hoping for. We were hoping we could contain them a bit better and make it more interesting heading into the second half and fourth quarter. To their credit, they converted on some plays. We wanted to contain them a bit better and make them settle for field goals. Really it revolved around the quarterback and his ability to run and they have two very good receivers and their ability to stretch the field vertically. They've got a lot of pieces in place."
 
It was Columbia that took the early lead from the opening kickoff. Columbia sophomore Will Allen received the opening kickoff and raced 91-yards down to the Princeton 7-yard line, where the Lions took a 3-0 lead on a 25-yard field goal by senior Chris Alleyne. The play marked the eighth-longest kickoff return in school history.
 
Princeton quickly answered with a 75-yard, seven-play scoring drive which ended in a 37-yard touchdown pass from John Lovett to Steve Carlson. Princeton maintained a 6-3 lead because the snap was fumbled on the point after attempt. The Tigers made 13-3 with 6:18 left in the first quarter when Lovett faked a handoff and dashed 22-yards for a touchdown. The play followed a seven-play, 78-yard scoring drive and featured a 24-yard pass from Lovett to Carlson.
 
The Columbia offense responded with a 75-yard, 13-play scoring drive as first-year Ty Lenhart dove over the line for a two-yard touchdown, his fourth score of the season to cut Princeton's lead to 13-10. The drive featured two key passes from sophomore quarterback Dillon Davis to junior Ronald Smith of nine and 17 yards. A seven-yard run by junior Lynnard Rose put the ball at the Princeton 2-yard line which setup Lenhart's scoring play.
 
But Princeton took a 20-10 lead when Lovett dove into the end zone on one-yard touchdown run on fourth and goal. The score was setup by a 38-yard run by Lovett in which he zig-zagged through the Lion defense. Princeton added another score when Lovett found Carlson in the corner of the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown pass. The score was setup by a TJ Floyd interception.
 
Princeton took a 30-10 lead into halftime when Nicolas Ramos converted a 19-yard field goal as time expired.
 
Colin Eaddy made it 38-10 on a 66-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and the Tigers tacked on another seven-yard touchdown run by Charlie Volker for a 45-10 third quarter lead.
 
For Columbia, Davis, in his second career start, completed 16 of 29 passes for 112 yards with two interceptions, junior receiver Ronald Smith made seven catches for 62 yards and Allen had a career-long 91-yard kickoff return. Leading the way on defense for Columbia was senior Ryan Gilbert, who made a game-high 13 tackles. He led the Lions in tackles for the third consecutive game and registered his sixth career double-digit tackle game. Sophomore safety Ben Mathiasmeier made a career-high seven tackles, while senior Sean White also finished with seven tackles.
 
"We moved the ball okay," Bagnoli said. "We have a lot of things to we need to work on. We did some nice things. We got ourselves in trouble with some penalties, turnovers and dropped balls which is very uncharacteristic of our wideouts. We didn't play that well today, but I want to give Princeton credit."
 
Columbia (2-1) plays its final non-conference game of the season on Saturday, Oct. 6 against Marist at Robert K. Kraft Field. A victory would give Columbia its seventh consecutive non-conference win and second straight undefeated 3-0 non-conference slate.